As the vice president for engineering at Lockheed Martin, and the father of three sons, I’m proud to be part of a company that serves as the founding and presenting host of this Festival, which will inspire our youngest Americans with the power of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). We have a vested interest in STEM—not just because it’s critical to the future of our company, but because it’s critical to the future of our nation.

Lockheed Martin’s 60,000 technologists, scientists and engineers work hard every day to defend global security, push the boundaries of scientific discovery and deliver essential services to citizens. They do this because the United States—and the world—face complex challenges that call for innovative solutions.

To ensure our collective futures, we need to sustain this level of innovation with enough qualified engineers for 21st century jobs. Emerging, multi-disciplinary engineering and technology fields require a workforce that is trained to solve challenges in sustainability, climate change, cyber security, advanced manufacturing, energy and healthcare. Today’s students are tomorrow’s inventors.

Simply put: STEM matters to all of us.

The USA Science & Engineering Festival will introduce children and young adults to the problem solving potential of technology and engineering. It will allow them to explore and learn, ask questions and be inspired. And it doesn’t stop after the event in Washington, D.C.

We will sustain this commitment to advancing the capacity, capability, and competitiveness of our engineering community through year-round STEM programming, curriculum development and an interactive content-rich website. I encourage you to learn how you can be a part of the momentum today, and look forward to meeting you next year at the festival!

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I am a retired teacher, after 33 years, and have a passion to share STEM Education with the young people in eastern NE!! I have been a director of Camp Invention for the last 6 summers, and have also turned lots of students on to various robotics competitions. How can I help foster more of this kind of thing in an after school setting. It seems the regular school curriculum is too packed to devote what we really need students to be learning! I want to find a way to change that!